The bridges of Magnolia Plantation, SC

 

One of the many pretty bridges in Magnolia Gardens, Charleston SC

History of the Magnolia Plantation & Gardens

Thomas Drayton and his wife Ann arrived from Barbados to the new English colony of Charles Towne and established Magnolia Plantation along the Ashley River in 1679. Thomas and Ann were the first in a direct line of Magnolia family ownership that has lasted more than 300 years and continues to this day.

Magnolia Plantation saw immense wealth and growth through the cultivation of rice during the Colonial era. Later, British and American troops would occupy its grounds during the American Revolution, while the Drayton sons would become both statesmen and soldiers fighting against British rule.

The establishment of the early gardens at Magnolia Plantation in the late 17th century would see an explosion of beauty and expansion throughout the 18th century, but it was not until the early 19th century did the gardens at Magnolia truly begin to expand on a grand scale.

Upon his death in 1825, Thomas Drayton, the great grandson of Magnolia’s first Drayton, willed the estate successively to his daughter’s sons, Thomas and John Grimké. As he had no male heirs to leave it to,  he made the condition in the will that they assume their mother’s maiden name of Drayton. Some time later, while in England preparing for the ministry, young John Grimké Drayton received word that his older brother Thomas had died on the steps of the plantation house of a gunshot wound received while riding down the oak avenue during a deer hunt. Thus, having expected to inherit little or nothing as a second son, young John found himself a wealthy plantation owner at the age of 22.

Despite the prestige and wealth inherent in ownership of Magnolia and other plantations, he resolved still to pursue his ministerial career; and in 1838 he entered the Episcopal seminary in New York. While there, he fell in love with, and married, Julia Ewing, daughter of a prominent Philadelphia attorney. Returning to Charleston with his bride, he strove to complete his clerical studies while bearing the burden of managing his large estate. The pressure took its toll, and his fatigue resulted in tuberculosis. His own cure for the illness was working outside in the gardens he loved. He also wanted to create a series of romantic gardens for his wife to make her feel more at home in the South Carolina Lowcountry. A few years later, as though by a miracle, his health returned, allowing him to enter the ministry as rector of nearby Saint Andrews Church, which had served plantation owners since 1706 and still stands just two miles down the highway towards Charleston.

But until his death a half-century later, along with his ministry, Rev. Drayton continued to devote himself to the enhancement of the plantation garden, expressing his desire to a fellow minister in Philadelphia, "...to create an earthly paradise in which my dear Julia may forever forget Philadelphia and her desire to return there."
In tune with the changes he had seen taking place in English gardening away from the very formal design earlier borrowed from the French, John Grimké Drayton moved towards greater emphasis on embellishing the soft natural beauty of the site. More than anyone else he can be credited with the internationally acclaimed informal beauty of the garden today. He introduced the first azaleas to America, and he was among the first to utilize Camellia Japonica in an outdoor setting. A great deal of Magnolia’s horticultural fame today is based on the large and varied collection of varieties of these two species—not the abundant and lovely Southern Magnolia for which the plantation just happened to have been named.


The outbreak of the American Civil War would threaten the welfare of the family, the house, and the gardens themselves. But the plantation would recover from the war to see additional growth of the gardens as they became the focus of the plantation over agriculture when the gardens opened to the public for the first time in 1870 and saved the plantation from ruin. Since that time, the plantation and gardens have evolved and grown into one of the greatest public gardens in America with a rich history. To explore that history in-depth and hear the stories of those who lived and worked there over the centuries, visit Magnolia Plantation & Gardens today.



I hope you had a nice read, my friends. I loved to be in Charleston, going around to photograph all the surrounding beauty - and I'm still missing that beautiful city of the South Carolinian Lowcountry today!
~Susanne






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Fort Johnson, Charleston SC

View from Fort Johnson to the Ravanel bridge

That's Fort Sumter far back on the horizon
(click in the photo to see it bigger)

As history tells: this was the spot where the civil war started with a cannon shot over to Fort Sumter
(click in the photo to read the text)

Today a circa 1820s brick powder magazine and a section Confederate earthworks are some of the surviving elements of the fort

I'm not sure, but I think this is one of the research boats from the Marine Research Institute located around Fort Johnson.

Fort Johnson

What is left of Fort Johnson? Built in the early 1700s, the fort was expanded and improved during the French and Indian War, American Revolution, and War of 1812. During this same time the fort was damaged was hurricanes and storms. By the time of the Civil War only a few structures remained and Confederate forces built earthworks on the site. Today a circa 1820s brick powder magazine and a section Confederate earthworks are some of the surviving elements of the fort.

For you who are interested in Charlestons history, please read more here about Fort Johnson

and here too:
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/ftjohnson.html

The Angel Oak in Spring

I have visited the old "Angel Oak" again, I wanted to see her in her new "spring time dress". But there were 3 buses waiting outside the parking lot and for sure more than over 120 school kids running around and climbing up and down in the tree like little monkeys. So I had to wait until the big fun was over and they are gone - and happily, 10 minutes later the whole place was empty again, quite again and only the singing birds and my clicking camera to hear.


I made earlier already a post about the "Angel Oak",read it here: http://sues-daily-photos.blogspot.com/2008/02/angel-oak.html

A Down Town Stroll

The Custom House

The glass facade of the Art Institute of Charleston

First Presbyterian Church, founded in 1731

Nathaniel Russel House (1808) at Meeting Street, a property of
Historic Charleston Foundation

James Simmons House, founded at 1760 at 37 Meeting Street

Charles Towne Landing - A State Historic Site

The spot where the first settlers arrived with their ship and first stepped on land

A full size replica of a sailing ship

On many spots in the park you can see the archaeologists at work

The entrance gate to the Legare-Waring House

The authentic experimental crop garden

An elegant live oak alle’ and the Legare-Waring House

The sign explains briefly the history behind the Legare-Waring House

Front view of the entrance of the Legare-Waring House

Pretty marsh scene at the landing place

It was just a beautiful spring day



Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site

Cannons boom. Muskets bark. Interpretive rangers in 17th century dress tend heirloom crops. They’re all part of the “new” Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site.

Here a group of English settlers landed in 1670 and established what would become the birthplace of the Carolinas colony, the plantation system of the American South, and one of the continent’s first major port cities. And here the story is still told.

Opened in 1970 as Charles Towne Landing State Park, the peaceful park on a marshy point off the Ashley River was rebuilt in 2006 with a sharpened focus on the site’s remarkable past. Begin with the 12-room, interactive museum in the Visitors Center that includes a “digital dig”. Then walk the self-guided history trail, using the MP3 players that add an audio tour to the experience.

Admire the Adventure, a full-size replica sailing ship built onsite, and the authentic experimental crop garden.

Talk to archaeologists at work. And leave time for the Animal Forest natural habitat zoo and 80 acres of gardens that includes an elegant live oak alle’ and the Legare-Waring House, one of Charleston’s favorite sites for weddings and other special gatherings.

Read more about here

The Ashley River, SC

The Ashley River is a river in South Carolina, rising from the Wassamassaw and Great Cypress Swamps in Western Berkeley County. It consolidates its main channel about 5 miles west of Summerville, widening into a brackish, tidal estuary just south of Fort Dorchester. The much wider Ashley joins the Cooper River in Charleston to form the Charleston Harbor before discharging into the Atlantic Ocean.

The river was named for Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury and chief Lord Proprietor of the Carolina Colony. Charleston was founded on the western bank of the Ashley in 1670 (at Charles Towne Landing), before moving across to its current peninsular location ten years later.

Riverfront Park and The Memorial

Five very impressive flags are waving in the wind at the Riverfront Park Memorial

Ship sculptures at the Memorial spot in the Riverfront Park.

Navy Ships in Charleston

It just happened when I was there, a video crew were filming for a new commercial. Two students from the Citadel are waiting for their act.

Art in the Park

Set on the banks of the beautiful Cooper River, Riverfront Park has been built near the historic homes once occupied by the Naval Base Admiral and officers, surrounded by graceful old oak trees and peaceful river vistas. Bordered by Noisette Creek, the park boasts a magnificent contemporary Performance Pavilion and Grand Lawn. The national Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition is installed there. Later included were the Shipyard Memorial and Boardwalk.

Read more about the park here and here

Harbor Tours

If you have time, do a harbor tour and visit also the legendary Fort Sumter with one of the schooners.

Or enjoy a tour with the Ferry out to the Fort

View from "The Battery" over to USS Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Charleston, SC

I will bring more pictures from that open air museum pretty soon, so stay tuned.

Touring Down Town in a Horse Carriage

On a wonderful warm spring day like these it's the best thing to do for tourists, take a horse carriage ride! You will see and experience the charm of this town the most this way, listening to the tour guide words.

The horses stop here and there and you will not miss out one of those wonderful historic houses and corners.

And this wonderful animals are waiting very patiently.

Let's go, up to the next destination!

With my next visitors from abroad I will be also a horse carriage tourist, special when my grandchildren will be visiting me one day. :-)

"The Battery"

It was a nice walk along "The Battery" to see these big and wonderful architectures at the waterfront, overlooking the harbor.

These East Bay and Battery Park homes in Charleston, SC reflect the prosperity that was prevalent in South Carolina during the era of 1843.

The Battery is also home to some of the city's most lavish residences, including the historic Edmonston-Alston house, the Calhoun Mansion and the Palmer Home (also known as the Pink Palace).

read more about "The Battery" here

The Holy City - St. Michaels Church

St. Michael’s Church

is the oldest church edifice in the City of Charleston, standing on the site of the first Anglican Church built south of Virginia. In the 1680’s a small wooden church, the first in the new town of Charles Town, was built on this spot for the families of the Church of England, and named St. Philip’s. By 1727, the town had grown too large for the small church and a more spacious one was built of brick on Church Street, later destroyed by fire in 1835.

By 1751, St. Philip’s had again proved too small for the increasing population, and another church as authorized by the General Assembly of the Province, to be built on the old site and to be known as St. Michael’s. The cornerstone was laid in 1752 and in 1761 the church was opened for services. Except for the addition of the sacristy in 1883 on the southeast corner, the structure of the building has been little changed.

Although the architect’s name is unknown, the type of architecture follows the tradition of Sir Christopher Wren, generally used during our Colonial period and up to the Gothic revival in 1841. The design carries out worship according to the Book of Common Prayer, where the service is to be heard and all the worshippers are to participate. The altar is close to the congregation in a shallow recess, the apse, with the choir and organ in the rear. A gallery on three sides brings more people closer to the center of worship. St. Michael’s is one of the few city churches in America that has retained this original design.

Read more about this Church here